FR BRIAN D’Arcy, censored by the Church in his work as a journalist, said today that Cardinal Sean Brady should reflect on his position in light of claims that he failed to protect children abused by notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.The popular priest, who writes a weekly column for the Sunday World, said he would find it hard to continue if he was in the position of the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
But he told Newstalk’s Breakfast show that the Catholic Church had a major credibility problem and he didn’t think changing Cardinal Brady would give it a fresh start.
“The problem is that if Cardinal Brady goes the ordinary people of Ireland won’t have a single vote in who replaces him,” he said.
It emerged last week that Fr D’Arcy (66) from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, has been living under Vatican censure for the past 14 months.
The Passionist priest has criticised mandatory celibacy for priests and has been a fierce critic of the church’s handling of sexual abuse scandals in Ireland.
The disciplinary action means he must submit his writings and broadcasts to an official censor.
He said last weekend that Rome must take some of the blame for the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.
In an emotional interview on RTE’s Marian Finucane Show, Fr D’Arcy said that if there is secrecy, and no questioning mind within the Catholic Church, then no child will be protected.
Fr D’Arcy also denied ever questioning the defined doctrine of the Church.
“I have been extraordinarily careful throughout my life to never, ever, ever contradict what is a defined doctrine of faith in the church and never even question it. That’s the way I worked. I would be very careful, even to this day, not to talk about that.”
He also said that if he had to stop writing about issues such as the sexual abuse of children or homosexuality, he would have to leave the priesthood.